Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half: Recovery

I PR-ed, and then I rode that high all freaking weekend long.

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After Anne and I chilled in the VIP tent for a bit, I hustled back to my hotel to get showered and decent and get over to Churchkey, a beer bar in Logan Circle that Emily and Laura both love.

it was after 2 when we met up, and all I’d had since the race was a random roast beef sandwich in the tent and a mimosa, so I was STARVING when I walked in and immediately ordered tater tots and a beer. (SO CLASSY.) Emily will forever astound me with her speediness, so I love talking running with her.

I love love love beer, but I’ve been trying to stick to wine because I’ve felt really bloated lately after having beer…but celebrating a PR was a good reason to treat myself to some beer. I had a Hopulent, from the Epic Brewing Company, which sounded appropriate.

After Churchkey, Anne and I headed back to her apartment in Arlington for a low-key dinner and movie night, which was perfect after running our hearts out in the morning.

Sunday, we headed back into D.C. for a yoga class with the very lovely Gena from Choosing Raw. We’ve briefly met at events, but had never chatted before yesterday, and she is one of my new favorite people.

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Anne made me one of her egg/banana pancakes before we left, and it was basically like I’d stepped into her blog. I was just missing some quinoa.

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We went to The Studio, and I really liked it. The room was long and narrow, so our mats were very close to each other. The class itself was a hot vinyasa. I’ve done plenty of hot Bikram yoga and plenty of vinyasa classes, but never a hot vinyasa and certainly never a hot vinyasa the day after a half-marathon. Other than standing splits, though, my legs were just fine.

Just before savasana, we moved our mats to the wall to work on some inversions, such as handstands. I’ve never done handstands in yoga, so I was terrified. What if I landed on my head? Or kicked a hole through the wall? Luckily, neither happened, but I didn’t get anywhere near a handstand either, which was a little frustrating.

Anne knew the girl behind the desk from run club, and everyone at the studio seemed really friendly and not at all pretentious.

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Afterwards, the three of us went to Sweetgreen for lunch/brunch, and I got a salad with some soba noodles and avocado. Salad usually bothers my stomach, but this one did not!

I ditched Anne after lunch and headed out to Alexandria for another friend’s St. Patrick’s Day party. As always, it’s fun to visit D.C., but I am so glad I don’t live there any more. NYC is my happy place.

How do you celebrate a sweet PR? Are you into active recovery or total rest? I chased that active recovery Sunday with a rest day yesterday.

9 comments on “Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half: Recovery

  1. Logan @ Mountains and Miles

    I’m a big fan of active recovery. I went on a short 3 mile easy run on Sunday after the race and would have done some yoga/biking/something on Monday, but we just got a new puppy and I feel like all the time and energy has been sucked away from me (ha). Today seems to be looking like an off day, too. Maybe I’ll end up taking a “recovery week”…totally legit for a half marathon, right?

    I always treat myself to whatever I want to eat the day of a race. I wanted to go to Good Stuff, but never quite made it there, but we did end up going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and stuffed our faces with bread, spinach/artichoke dip and pasta!

    Reply
  2. Maggie

    HUGE congratulations to you, Theodora! As a very slow runner, I want you to know that you are a huge inspiration to me. I’m so grateful to you for making your athletic endeavors sound both challenging and fun!

    Reply
  3. Katie

    I LOVE Churchkey! I haven’t been there since I got diagnosed with Celiac but I used to love their fried mac n cheese sticks. So good.

    Sounds like you had a fun trip 🙂

    Great job on your race!!!

    Reply
  4. emily

    “Theodora, we have space here at the bar, is this area okay with you?”

    *looks around at the food-less bar area. evil glare*

    “We should be able to move into the lounge area in like 15 minutes”

    *angry huff*

    “THIS WOULD BE FINE IF YOU COULD GET FOOD AT THE BAR”

    “You can definitely get food at the bar!”

    *relief washes over face*

    “OH! We can stay here, NO PROBLEM!” she says sweetly, but quickly, as she yells at the bartender for some tots.

    Reply
  5. Gena

    You’re kind of my new favorite person as well. And as for your closing sentiment: word. I’m glad I came here for my post-bacc, but my heart resides in NYC.

    Reply

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